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ANCIENT EGYPT. 



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ILLUSTRA TED, 



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NEW YORK: 

DODD, MEAD, AND COMPANY, 



751 BROADWAY. 



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Copyright^ iSjb, Dodd, Mead, &* Company 



Press of Rand, A7'ery i and Company, Boston. 






LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



~ 



i. The Pyramids Frontispiece 

2. Lotus Flower page 9 

3. Making Bricks 1 

4. Making Bricks 12 

5. Ancient Egyptian Boat 14 

6. Drawing Water from tlie Nile 16 

7. Watering the Fields 17 

8. Modern Nile Boat 19 

9. Ark and Priests of Nilus 22 

io. Egyptian Water Wheel 26 

1 1. Egyptian Locust 27 

12. Banners of the Egyptians 31 

13. Fishing in a Canal 33 

14. Egyptian Field 34 

15. Fruit Basket 35 



6 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 

PAGE 

16. Wine Jar 35 

17. Egyptian Cup 35 

18. Dining Chair 36 

19. Chair ... 37 

20. Mirror 38 

21. Carved Box 39 

22. Basin and Pitcher 40 

23. Stone Polisher 41 

24. Toy Crocodile 42 

25. Modern Slave Boat on the Nile 50 

26. Egyptian High Priest 51 

27. Looking South from Philae 55 

28. Day of Judgment 58 

29. Runs at Philae 59 

30. The Sacred Bull 63 

31. Resurrection of the Body 68 

32. Priest preparing Mummy for Burial 69 

33. Egyptian Jars 70 

34. Mummy Case 72 

35. Ancient Rock-cut Tomb 73 

36. Interior of Rock-cut Tomb 77 

37. Pyramids of Memphis 8 1 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 7 

PAGE 

38. Court of an Egyptian Temple 88 

39. Ruins at Karnak go 

40. The Sphinx 91 

41. Luxor from the River 95 

42. A Sphinx 10c 

43. Ruined Avenue of Sphinxes 101 

44. Ancient Temple . . 103 

45. Ramessids at Luxor 105 

46. The Colossi 109 

47. Ruins of Temple of Rameses 113 

48. Statue of Osymandyas 117 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



CHAPTER I. 



TF we look on 
the map of Af- 
rica we shall 
find in the very 
northeastern 
part, a country 
that is set down 
as Egypt. A 
long and narrow 
country it is, 
and throughout 
Lotus flower. its whole length 

flows a great river, while the fertile fields 

T* 




10 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

on its banks lie like a long and narrow 
green ribbon, through the vast deserts that 
surround it on every side. Such in reality is 
the habitable country of Egypt ; — a belt of 
fertile land lying on the banks of the river, 
and made fertile by the overflow of its waters. 
And yet this country so apparently insig- 
nificant in size was the home of a great and 
mighty nation far back in the very beginning 
of history. When we read in the book of 
Genesis of the times of Abraham, that great 
shepherd, and of his vast flocks and herds, and 
how the angel of the Lord came to his tent 
to bring to him the promise that he should 
be the father of a great nation, we seem to 
be reading of the very earliest days of the 
world. And yet when Abraham went down 
to Egypt to find pasturage for his cattle, he 
found a people who had lived there for cen- 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



II 



turies, ruled over by kings, the builders of 
great palaces and massive temples to the 
strange gods whom they worshipped. 

Fortunately we have preserved to us 
many of the records of these early ages. 




Making Bricks. 

How, you ask, can that be? How could 
these records have been preserved for four 
thousand years, and on what could they 
have been written before the invention of 
parchment and pen. The parchment was 
the hard granite rock, and the pen the 



12 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



workman's chisel, and from this it has hap- 
pened that these records have been preserved, 
while those of nations centuries later have 
utterly disappeared. 

Of course they were not in writing, for 
it was many hundreds of years after this 




Making Bricks; from Ancient Egyptian Monument. 

that the alphabet was discovered. They are 
written in a language that all can read — in 
pictures, such as the two, representing brick- 
making, here given. 

How was it that Egypt came thus early 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 1 3 

to be so mighty an empire? It was largely 
owing to the position of the country, In the 
early days, the art of navigation was almost 
unknown. Ships were of the frailest charac- 
ter^ and in them the timid sailor dared not 
venture out of sight of land. But the whole 
country of Egypt was traversed by a mighty 
river, down whose broad and placid current 
could float in safety the rudest vessels, bear- 
ing the grain and fruits of one section to 
another — bringing down the huge building 
stones for the temples and pyramids, or carry- 
ing the gold from far Ethiopia to Thebes, the 
great and mighty capital. 

For nine months out of the twelve a 
strong wind blows southward through the 
Nile valley, from sunrise to sunset, and so 
the early navigators returning up the stream, 
down which they had floated, could hoist 



14 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



the sails, and make good progress during the 
day, anchoring at night, when the wind died 




a 
o 
cq 

b 



fcfl 

w 
b 

o 

B 



away. In this way, intercourse was held 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 1 5 

between all parts of the country, and as a 
natural result, the arts of peace flourished. 
The husbandman was far more intent in 
gathering a rich and certain harvest from the 
fertile soil, than in going abroad to seek the 
uncertain booty of war ; and laws and govern- 
ment speedily followed. 

The valley of the Nile is, as we have said, 
the only habitable part of Egypt, for this is 
the only part that is ever watered. In this 
country rain never falls ; — -the river only is the 
source of all life, and where its waters cannot 
reach, are only desert sands. About the 
middle of June, the waters of the Nile begin 
to rise, and continue rising till they reach 
the height of about twenty feet. The whole 
valley during the months of August, Septem- 
ber, and October, is under water, while the 
villages, built on raised mounds, rise above 



i6 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



the flood, like islands in a vast lake. The 
people watch with eagerness for the coming 
of the waters, and its first appearance is 




Drawing water from the Nile. 

hailed with the firing of guns, and the shouts 
of the crowd who line the river banks. 

The thrifty husbandman has dug canals, 
in order that the life-giving water may reach 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



*7 



and moisten the dry sands, that would other- 
wise go untilled, and, with the help of rude 



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rs 



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machinery, draws the water from the Nile 
and pours it on the thirsty soil. 



1 8 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

The rise of the river each year varies but 
a few inches, and the eagerness with which it is 
watched may be imagined when we know that 
should it fall short but a few feet of its usual 
height, famine must be the result. 

For these three months Egypt is a vast 
lake ; the boats no longer keep to the channel 
of the stream, but sail boldly across the waters, 
coasting perhaps beside the pyramids, or 
the mighty colossi which, rising out of the 
waves, tower far above the boatmen's heads. 

In November the fields are again bare, but 
covered thickly with a rich mud, in which the 
husbandman has but to sow his seed. No 
weary ploughing is needed, no enriching the 
wasted soil — the river has done all this for him, 
and he has but to reap the fruit of its labor. 
Two crops are sown and gathered before the 
sun has parched the ground so thoroughly 




Nile Boats. 



ANCTENT EGYPT. 21 

moistened by the overflow. All through our 
winter, the fields of Egypt are green with the 
growing crops, or golden with the harvest ; but 
when with us the spring has come and our 
fields grow green, those of Egypt are parched 
and waste, till again the rushing waters shall 
fertilize them anew. The old Greek historian 
Herodotus tells of the amazement of the 
Egyptian priests, when they learned that all 
Greece was watered by rain from heaven, and 
not, as their own country, inundated by rivers. 
" Some day," they said, " the Greeks will be 
disappointed of their grand hope, and then 
they will be wretchedly hungry," evidently 
thinking that any people that depended on 
rain alone to moisten the soil, depended on a 
very frail hope indeed. 

We now know that the yearly rise of the 
river is caused by the rains in Abyssinia, 



22 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



which, pouring down the mountain sides, swell 
the mighty flood that rushes onward till it 
reaches the Mediterranean ; but to the ancient 
Egyptians, who did not know this, the yearly 
coming of the flood was miraculous indeed. 




Ark and Priests of Nilus. 

Should it fail for a single year, the green fields 
would become deserts, and the nation must 
perish with famine. It was the source of 
food — of life, and the mystery which shrouded 
its coming only increased their wonder and 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 23 

awe. To them it appeared a god, and they 
worshipped it as such. Priests were appointed, 
who presided over the sacrifices offered it, 
and in every way it was treated with the ut- 
most reverence. 

The Nile Valley, which was thus made fer- 
tile by the overflow of the river, is indeed a 
narrow strip of land. In its widest part, ex- 
cept at the delta where it discharges into 
the Mediterranean, it is only ten and three- 
quarter miles in width, while the average 
breadth of the cultivated land is only a little 
over four miles. 

Yet this narrow belt supported a vast 
population. Herodotus declares that, in his 
day, there were twenty thousand cities, while 
the total number of inhabitants was seven 
millions. How all these people lived we shall 
see as we go on. 



HOME LIFE OF THE EGYPTIANS. 










3 






CHAPTER II. 




HTHE Egyptian 
house was 
thoroughly adapted 
to the climate. In 
^ a country wherein 
-liS\ ra * n never falls, and 
Egyptian Locust. where dampness is 

unknown, we can easily imagine that the low- 
er classes would live almost entirely out of 
doors. And so we find that their houses 
were simply enclosures, of which only a part 
was covered over, while the space thus en- 
closed was used almost entirely for a granary 
or store-room. The roof was finished off 
flat, and on it the family always slept at night. 



28 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

Of course such simple houses as these 
could only be occupied by the very poor. In 
the towns they were built of rough brick, 
were several stories in height, and joined to- 
gether as in cities in our own day. Over the 
doorway was generally some inscription, such 
as " The Good House, ,, or some symbol of good 
omen. The door was often of rare wood, or 
stained to imitate rare wood, while the ex- 
terior was stuccoed, and painted in the many 
bright colors in which the Egyptian delighted. 

The house-top, as in all Eastern countries, 
was a favorite place of resort, and here the 
women doubtless held long gossips with one 
another. At least this was the case, if we 
may believe a story which the modern Egyp- 
tian tells, and which he claims has come down 
from the time of the Pharaohs. It is as follows : 

" A man digging in his vineyard, having 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 29 

found a jar full of gold, ran home with joy 
to announce his good fortune to his wife ; 
but, as he reflected on the way that women 
could not be always trusted with secrets, and 
that he might lose a treasure which of right 
belonged to the king, he thought it better 
to test her discretion. As soon, therefore, as 
he had entered the house, he called her to 
him, and saying that he had something of 
great importance to tell her, asked if she was 
sure she could keep a secret. * Oh yes,' was 
the ready answer, ' when did you ever know 
me betray one ? What is it ? ' ' Well then — 
but you are sure you won't mention it?' 
4 Have I not told you so — why be so tiresome 
— what is it?' * Now, as you promise me, I 
will tell you. A most singular thing happens 
to me. Every morning I lay an egg,' at the 
same time producing one from beneath his 



30 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

cloak ' What ! an egg ! Extraordinary.' 
4 Yes, it is indeed, but mind you don't mention 
it.' ' Oh ! no ; I shall say nothing about it, I 
promise you/ i No ! I feel sure you won't ; ' 
and so saying he left the house. No sooner 
gone, than his wife ran up to the terrace, and 
finding a neighbor on the adjoining roof, she 
beckoned to her, and with great caution 
said, * Oh ! my sister, such a curious thing 
happens to my husband, but you are sure 
you won't tell anybody.' ' No ! no ! what is 
it ? do tell me.' ' Every morning he lays ten 
eggs.' * What ! ten eggs ! ' ' Yes, and he 
has shown them to me, is it not strange ? but 
mind you say nothing about it ; p and away 
she went down stairs. It was not long before 
another woman came up on the next terrace, 
and the story was told in the same way, by 
the wife's friend, with a similar promise of. 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



31 



secrecy, only with the variation of twenty in- 
stead of ten eggs, till one neighbor after an- 
other to whom the the story was intrusted, 
had increased them to a hundred. It was not 
long before the husband heard it also, and the 
supposed egg-layer, learning how his story 



1W 



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^ 



Banners of the Egyptians. 



had spread, was persuaded not to risk his 
treasure, by trusting his wife with the real 
secret." 

The homes of the rich were very varied in 
shape, but were in almost every case built 



32 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

around a central and open court, and upheld 
by columns, through which the breezes found 
free passage. In the court were often foun- 
tains, while the pavement was kept from be- 
ing overheated, by being continually sprinkled 
with water. The chief entrance, or hallway, 
through which the visitor entered, was fre- 
quently hung with gayly colored banners. 

In the country, where the villas could 
spread over more space, the grounds were 
often of great size, including orchards and 
vineyards, large canals and ponds, which 
were supplied with water from the river, and 
stocked with fish, offering not only a place 
for boating, but a fine fishing ground when- 
ever the master felt inclined for sport. 

Granaries, too, were enclosed, and the yards 
in which were kept the cattle, while beyond 
all, lay the fields with the toiling laborers. 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



33 



Flowers were everywhere raised in the 
greatest quantities, the Egyptians even going 
so far as to exact them in tribute from con- 
quered nations. Vast beds were spread out 




Fishing in one of the Canals. Old Painting. 

in every direction, and the servants continu- 
ally replaced within doors those that were 
withered, with fresh ones from the garden. 
The lotus was especially a favorite, and ap- 



* 



34 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



pears in thousands of sculptures on the sacred 

buildings and tombs. 

We can easily see that a people who had 

become so passionately 
fond of flowers, could 
not have been a warlike 
and barbarous race, the 
first conquerors of the soil, 
but must have passed 
through years of civiliza- 
tion. Consequently we 
expect to find in their 
houses many indications 
of refinement. Nor are we 
disappointed. 

Both the sculptures 
and the accounts of the 

earliest travellers assure us that the rich 

lived in a condition of luxurv unknown at 




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ft 

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c 

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ft 

o 



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as 

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ft 
>> 

bo 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



35 



the present day. The newly arrived guest 
was met by slaves, who, removing his dusty 
sandals, presented him water in golden 




Fruit Basket of Egypt. 




Wine Jar. 



bowls, to bathe his feet. When ushered 
into the apartment to which he had per- 




Egyptiau Cup. 



haps been invited to dine, a bouquet of 
flowers was given him, while a necklace of 



36 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

flowers was hung about his neck. Wine was 
handed him in golden cups, and while the 
guests waited for dinner, they were enter- 
tained with music performed by hired mu- 
sicians. 

The room was furnished with carpets, and 




A dining chair of Egypt. 

some of the chairs and other articles of furni- 
ture were made in the richest way, while 
others, of course, such as here illustrated, were 
of the simplest form. One of our illustrations, 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



37 



as will be seen, shows a chair that is very 
similar to the camp chair of daily use to-day. 
Vases stood about, filled with flowers ; — on 
all sides were flowers; while their pleasant 
perfumes filled the air. 




At the close of the meal, a singular custom 
was observed. A figure of the god Osiris, 
carved in the shape of a mummy, some 



38 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



twelve inches in height, was passed from 
guest to guest, to remind them that however 
proper it might be to enjoy the good things 
of this world, there was yet a hereafter, for 
which each must be prepared. The thought 
of death was not an unpleasant one to them, 




and they were so little moved by it, as to 
frequently place the mummy of a departed 
relative at the table among the guests. 

If we were familiar enough with the family 
to pass into the inner rooms, we should see 
many indications of taste. Here, lying upon 



ANCIKNT EGYPT. 



39 



the lady's dressing table, is a mirror whose 
handle is carved into the image of some god ; 
lying next it we find an 
inlaid box, perhaps used 
for holding her jewelry 
or other article of the 
toilet, while the golden 
bowl and pitcher seem 
to vary but little in shape 
from those made of more 
common material which 
are in use at the pres- 
ent day. 

In all the pictures 
we have of family life 
among the ancient Egyp- 
tians, the women are always present, and 
always on perfect equality with the men. 
How sure a proof this of civilization, only 




40 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



one who has travelled in Eastern lands, 
and has seen the low estimation in which 

women are held, can 
really feel. The Arab 
of to-day, when by 
chance he mentions the 
name of his wife, fol- 
lows it with the expres- 
sion, 4 'ajellak Allah," 
" may God elevate you" 
above the contamina- 
tion of such a subject ; 
precisely the words he 
would say, if by chance he should speak the 
name of a dog or any unclean thing. 

The Egyptians had many games which 
have descended to us : — for instance one now 
very common in Italy, called moira, was well 
known to them. In this one person suddenly 




ANCIENT EGYPT. 



4* 



throws forward several fingers of each hand, 
while his opponent is obliged to guess in- 
stantly the number which they together make. 
Chess, too, seems to have been a very common 
amusement, while they had also a game in 




Stone Polisher ; an Egyptian Toy. 

which two persons, each equipped with a stick 
terminating in a hook, tried by skilful move- 
ments to catch away from the other a small 
hoop. The game of ball was also a favorite, 
and seems to have been often played by 
ladies, while they were accomplished in the 



42 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



art of keeping in the air at the same time 
three, four, or even more balls. Nor were 
the children forgotten. Here are representa- 
tions of two mechanical toys which, doubtless, 
amused the little ones of long ago, as much 
as the more elaborate ones their successors 
enjoy. The mouth of the crocodile works 




with a string, and shuts with a snap when 
this is pulled. 

When more active amusement was needed, 
the Egyptian found it in hunting and fishing. 
The edges of the desert bordering on the fer- 
tile valley of the Nile, abounded in game. 
Gazelles and the wild ox were sometimes 
hunted down with dogs, or barbacans were 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 43 

formed, into which bodies of men drove the 
game for miles around. Lions, too, were fierce 
and numerous, if we may believe a statement 
of Amunoph III., in which he boasts that in 
a single day he killed one hundred and two. 
The Egyptian not only hunted the lion, but 
he tamed the young cubs and taught them to 
hunt for him, just as now in India the cubs 
of the leopard are trained to a similar service. 
The hyena, the pest of the shepherd, was also 
hunted, and traps were set for it, in which it 
had often the misfortune to fall, when it was 
brought muzzled into the village, amid the 
rejoicings of the farmers. Probably, however, 
the sport that afforded the most satisfaction, 
as well for the difficulty of its pursuit as the 
value of its prize, was the chase of the ostrich. 
Its feathers were emblematic of truth, and the 
highest officials, on occasions of state, were 



44 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

accustomed to adorn themselves with them ; 
and so highly were they valued, that they 
were exacted as tribute from conquered na- 
tions. In addition to all this, the Nile banks 
were the homes of thousands of birds, whose 
pursuit afforded many hours of sport to the 
enthusiastic hunter. 

The food of the richer classes was beef, 
game, and fish from the river, but a country 
so small as Egypt, and so densely populated, 
could of course afford animal food for the 
rich only. The lower classes lived almost 
entirely on vegetables, which the Nile Valley 
produced in the greatest abundance. The 
Israelites, when they had made their escape 
from bondage, and were marching through 
the desert, looked back longingly to the 
onions, the leeks, and the garlic they had left 
behind them. 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 45 

The occupations of the Egyptians were 
many. The nobility seem to have chosen 
either the army or the priesthood ; but when 
we come to the common people, there were 
many pursuits followed. A curious law, it is 
said, compelled every one to follow the occu- 
pation of his father ; but though this was not 
perhaps strictly true, it w 7 as true that after a 
man had chosen his trade, he was not allowed 
to change it. 

As might be expected in a country so 
situated as Egypt, the occupation of husband- 
man was one of no mean character. We 
have alreadv shown how the Nile fertilized 
the land, and how he had but to sow the seed 
in the waiting soil. Wheat and barley were 
largely grown, and the grain was threshed by 
oxen trampling on it, or dragging over it a 
rude instrument. On one of the sculptures 



46 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

we have such a scene represented, while over 
it is written the song of the men to the 
laboring animals : 

" Thresh for yourselves, O oxen ! 

Thresh for yourselves ; 
Thresh for yourselves, O oxen ! 

Thresh for yourselves. 
Measures for yourselves, 

Measures for your masters ; 
Measures for yourselves, 

Measures for your masters." 

Shepherds, however, were looked upon by 
the Egyptians as following the most degraded 
occupation of all. Joseph tells his brethren, 
when they are about to appear before Pha- 
raoh, to, by no means, state plainly their calling, 
" for every shepherd is an abomination to the 
Egyptians." 

We are surprised to find that many things 
which we have been accustomed to think 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 47 

modern inventions were well known to the 
Egyptians. Thus glass-making was known 
to them four thousand years ago, and they 
reached a skill in its manufacture that is 
totally unknown at the present day. Wilkin- 
son speaks of a mosaic of glass, in which the 
fineness of the design was such, that some 
parts, such as the feathers of birds, could only 
be satisfactorily studied under a magnifying 
glass. They succeeded, too, in imitating pre- 
cious stones, and though we can hardly think 
this a very noble use of their skill, it yet 
shows to what extent civilization had gone in 
those early days, since it is not till the arts of 
peace are well-established, that the desire for 
articles of personal adornment comes. The 
looms of Egypt were widely known, and their 
linen was largely exported. At home, too, 
large quantities must have been used, for 



48 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

linen formed the dress of the Egyptian living, 
and in it his body was wrapped for burial. 
Workers in leather are shown on the sculp- 
tures, fullers too, and potters, while the lux- 
urious furniture of the houses of the rich, of 
which we have spoken, gave occupation to 
the carpenter and upholsterer. The Egyp- 
tians were skilled workers in the precious 
metals. The mines of Nubia afforded gold, 
and were carried on by the government ; and 
the laborers were either convicts or prisoners 
taken in war. Their fate was indeed a hard 
one. Bound in fetters, men and women alike, 
they were driven on by taskmasters speaking a 
foreign tongue, without regard to their suffer- 
ings, till death brought a merciful relief. 



RELIGION OF THE EGYPTIANS. 




Il'l 

• llil'dlllll 



CHAPTER III. 



^ARIGIN, 



NALLY the 
an rever- 
enced one God only 
whose likeness was 
never represented, 
"he being wor- 
shipped in silence.*' 
His characteristics, 
however, were rep- 
resented by visible 

Egyptian High Priest offering flowers, shapes. To 1T1 ake 

this plainer, — when they thought of God 
as exercising his power in different ways, 
they represented him by figures, to each of 
which they gave a distinguishing name. 




52 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

Thus if they thought of him as a creator, he 
was called Pthah, and his figure was always 
accompanied by a smaller figure of Truth ; as 
the principle of generation, or the life-giver, 
he was called Khem, and so on ; in short; they 
expressed in pictures each of the various at- 
tributes of the Deity which we distinguish by 
such words as The Almighty, The Everlast- 
ing. Now while the educated could under- 
stand this, and regard these as emblems 
of the one All-father, the lower classes soon 
came to regard them as separate gods, and to 
pay divine honors to a host of deities, whose 
origin was lost in a mass of tradition and 
fable. Not only this, but if they perceived in 
any animal qualities which were associated 
with any of these deities, they considered the 
animal sacred, and so we have the curious 
spectacle of a nation paying reverence to the 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 53 

bull, and holding in sacred estimation cats 
and beetles. To such an extent was this the 
case, that the Greeks declared that it was 
easier, on the banks of the Nile, to find a god 
than a man. 

These many gods were not held in equal 
estimation ; a deity who was the chief object 
of worship in one part of the country, was 
totally ignored in -another. Thus Pthah was 
reverenced in Memphis, Amun Ra, the sun- 
god, in Heliopolis, Pasht, the goddess of chas- 
tity, at Bubastis. This was true, too, of ani- 
mals, those held sacred in one section being 
considered worthy of no regard, or even as 
symbols of evil, in another. 

There were, however, two exceptions to 
what we have just said. Osiris and Isis were 
worshipped in every part of Egypt alike, and 
everywhere honored as the greatest of the 



54 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

gods. The island of Philae, in the Nile, was 
especially consecrated to them, and in the 
eyes of the people, was the most sacred spot 
in the world. They looked upon it as the 
Mohammedan looks upon Mecca, or as the 
Christian upon the scenes amid which our 
Lord lived and moved ; and the Egyptian 
could give no more solemn oath than " by 
him — unnamed and unnameable — who sleeps 
in Philae." They believed that no bird dared 
fly over so holy a spot, and here they erected 
a most magnificent temple to their god. The 
destroying fury of the Persian conqueror has 
left but a portion standing of this beautiful 
shrine. Here we have traced upon the walls 
in the many chapels — for the building was 
of immense size — the mythological history 
of Osiris. He was believed to be the son 
of Nu and Seb, the brother and husband 



r 




ANCIENT EGYPT. 57 

of Isis, his queen, and was put to death by 
Typhon, but in the spirit world he was re- 
stored to life, and made the judge of the 
dead. This, however, was but the myth of a 
later day ; in the earlier and purer worship 
of the Egyptians, he personified the divine 
goodness. It was believed that he came on 
earth to bless mankind, but that he was van- 
quished and put to death by the power of 
evil. He rose from the dead to become the 
judge of all mankind. On the next page is 
a picture showing how the Egyptians kept 
before the people the idea of the world to 
come and the day of judgment. 

Osiris sits upon his throne, with a flail to 
punish or staff to guide, as the soul before him 
is accepted or found wanting. The sacred 
lotus flower is on the altar. The terrible dog 
— the Cerberus of the Greeks — the guardian 

3* 



58 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



of the gates, waits his decision. Thoth, god 

<rP7i=n=nn — 2^1 of letters, stands with 

ready pen to record the 
decision. The dog- 
headed Anubis piaces 
a vase representing 
good actions, or the 
heart of the deceased, 
in one scale, and the 

figure of truth in the 
other. Horus assists 
in the weighing. The 
spirit holds up praying 
hands, waiting between 
two figures of truth, 
the sentence that shall 
assign to it endless 
happiness, or consign 
it to endless woe. 





' , ' t 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 6 1 

Close by this temple of Osiris at Philae 
was a small one, dedicated to his queen and 
sister, Isis. 

If we may believe the accounts of modern 
travellers, the Egyptians, in selecting the island 
of Philae as the home for their gods, chose a 
spot of wonderful beauty. A late writer 
speaks of it as " the most strangely wild and 
beautiful spot he ever beheld. For all around 
the traveller tower up vast masses of gloomy 
rocks, piled one upon the other in wildest 
confusion ; — some of them as it were skele- 
tons of pyramids ; others requiring only a few 
strokes of giant labor to form colossal statues 
that might have startled the Anakim. Here 
spreads a deep drift of silvery sand, fringed 
by rich verdure and purple blossoms ; there, a 
grove of palms, intermingled with the flower- 
ing acacia ; and there, through vistas of craggy 



62 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

cliffs and gloomy foliage, gleams a calm blue 
lake, with the sacred island in the midst, 
green to the water's edge, except where the 
walls of the old temple city are reflected. " 

In Memphis, too, the worship of Osiris 
was carried on with great pomp, but here he 
was reverenced in the form of a living bull, 
Apis. It was claimed that this bull was di- 
vinely born, its mother being a cow of won- 
derful beauty, selected by the gods for this 
high office, and many were the honors be- 
stowed upon it. It was kept in a temple 
built for it, its food was selected with the 
greatest care, it was forbidden to drink the 
water of the Nile, since this was supposed to 
have a peculiarly fattening quality, and the 
Egyptians believed that " the body should sit 
light upon the soul," and in every way its 
comfort was provided for. The limit of its 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



63 



life was twenty-five years. If it died before 
this, its body was embalmed and, placed in a 
huge sarcophagus, was laid away in tombs 
with those of its predecessors. If the bull 
lived to be twenty-five, it was then secretly 



killed. 




Name of Apis in sacred 
writing. 



Bronze figure etc. 



When the Apis was dead, the people gave 
way to great lamentations. Priests, selected 
for the purpose, immediately set out to find 
a new one, which was to be made known by 
certain distinctive marks on his body. When 
found he was fed for forty days in a house 



64 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

facing the rising sun, and allowed to be seen 
only by women. At the expiration of this 
time he was placed in a golden boat, and 
carried on the Nile to Memphis. When the 
report was spread that a new Apis was found, 
the people ceased their lamentations, and 
indulged in every expression of joy. It is 
said that Cambyses, the Persian conqueror of 
Egypt, on one occasion returning to Memphis 
after an unsuccessful battle, found the people 
rejoicing over the discovery of a new Apis. 
In his anger at defeat, he chose to believe 
that their rejoicing was at his misfortune, 
and summoned the priests before him, with 
the sacred bull. Rushing upon the bull, he 
wounded him with his sword, exclaiming 
that he would see if a tame god had come to 
earth. The superstitious people believed that 
all the subsequent misfortunes of this prince 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 65 

were in punishment for this sacrilegious act. 
On festal days the bull was led at the head 
of processions, surrounded by a band of 
priests to keep back the people who came 
forth from their houses to greet it, and strew 
flowers in its way, while children who breathed 
its breath were thought to have the power 
of foretelling the future. 

The service of all these many gods, and 
the care of the temples erected in their 
honor, required a vast number of priests. 
To the higher classes in Egypt there seem to 
have been but two paths open — the army 
and the priesthood. The king was, at the 
same time, the head of the civil government 
and the chief high priest ; but the sons of the 
nobility could choose only one or the other 
of these two occupations. 

The priests enjoyed many privileges. 



66 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

Their property was not subject to taxes 
Their expenses were paid by the state. And, 
though they undoubtedly erred in not direct- 
ing aright the worship of the people — allow- 
ing them to reverence animals rather than the 
God of whom they were but symbols — they 
yet showed in their lives decided examples 
of self-restraint and self-control In the care 
of their persons they were most exact. They 
bathed four times a day, and every second 
day shaved from head to foot. Their food 
was of the simplest, and they never allowed 
themselves indulgence in the pleasures of 
the table, for they never lost sight of their 
great principle, that the body should sit 
light upon the soul. Nor did they believe 
that any sanctity was connected with celibacy. 
They married, and had their families about 
them. 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 6j 

The Egyptian believed implicitly in the 
resurrection of the body, even going so far as 
to place with it at burial, seeds of grain and 
farming tools, in order that the returning 
spirit might have the necessary aids in again 
beginning life. Their resurrection was not 
that of the Christian, who believes that the 
natural body shall rise a spiritual body. They 
believed that the spirit must return to the 
body which it occupied in life, and should that 
body be destroyed, no future life could be en- 
joyed. In the next picture the god Anubis is 
removing the cloths from the man long dead, 
while the soul, represented as a winged spirit, 
is about to return, entering through the 
mouth. 

In consequence of this belief, every care 
was taken so to prepare the body that it 
might be uninjured through the ages that 



68 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



must elapse before the spirit should return to 
its former home. The Egyptian hoarded and 
toiled through life that his final resting-place 
might be one that should defy decay. 




Resurrection of the body. 

As soon as a death occurred, the females 
of the household, their heads and faces cov- 
ered with mud, rushed wildly, with naked 
breasts, through the streets, striking them- 
selves and moaning aloud. 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



6 9 



Friends and relatives joined them, and if 
the dead man were a person of position, stran- 
gers followed to show their respect. Hired 
mourners, too, added to the lamentations. 




Priests preparing Mummy for Burial. 

The body was at once embalmed with the 
greatest care, this being exclusively the work 
of the priests ; and, wrapped in many folds of 
linen cloth, was made ready for its long sleep. 
The process of embalming took seventy 
days, and was one on which the greatest care 
was exercised. Several different methods are 
8 



7Q 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



known to have been in use, varying in expense 
according to the means employed. Often 
the intestines were removed, and the empty 
space was filled with bitumen or some simi- 
lar substance, while the intestines them- 
selves were deposited in four vases, which 




Four Egyptian Jars containing the perishable parts of the Mummy. 

were placed in the tomb containing the sar- 
cophagus. 

These vasec, as here shown, each termi- 
nated in a head, and were of a peculiar char- 
acter, and to each a particular part of the 
perishable part of the mummy was always 
assigned. Burial did not always at once fol- 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 7 1 

low embalming ; for sometimes the mummy, 
after being delivered to its friends, was kept in 
the house by them for months, where, placed 
in a richly painted case, it was set upright 
against the wall. When the appointed day 
for the funeral had come, and the procession 
had reached the place of sepulture, a singular 
custom was observed. Judges being pro- 
vided, it was open to any one to bring charges 
against the dead. Should these charges 
not be approved, a severe punishment was 
afflicted on the false accuser, but should it be 
shown that the dead man had led an evil life, 
burial was refused, and the mummy was 
returned to its friends. Great was the grief 
and shame among the relatives, for this was 
the greatest dishonor that could befall them. 
In such a case as this, the mummy was 
generally kept in the house, a closet being 






72 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



constructed for this purpose. In such way too, 
were kept the mummies of those that had 
died in debt, until their children had released 
them by the payment of their creditors. 
" It was indeed/' says an old historian, 
" most solemnly established in Egypt, that 
parents and ancestors should have a more 




marked token of respect paid them by their 
family after they had been transferred to 
their everlasting habitations. Hence origina- 
ted the custom of depositing the bodies of 
their deceased parents as pledges for the pay- 
ment of borrowed money : those who failed 
to redeem these pledges being subject to the 



o 

er+ 

O 

O 



O 



h3 
o 




ANCIENT EGYPT. 75 

heaviest disgrace, and deprived of burial after 
their own death/' 

The various districts of Egypt differed 
somewhat in their modes of burial. Oppo- 
site Thebes, where the line of hills comes 
down near the river, the limestone rock was 
carved out into tombs. 

Thousands of them cover the hill-sides — 
vast chambers cut out of the solid rock. Stern 
and forbidding without, the massive overhang- 
ing porticos casting deep shadows in the bright 
glare of a tropic sun, and dusky and dark with- 
in, lighted only by a stray sunbeam that might 
fall through the open door or by the traveller's 
torch. They are all empty now, for the 
mummies, with which time dealt so leniently, 
found no mercy at the hands of men. The 
coffins were rudely broken open in search of 
the gold ornaments which were often buried 



j6 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

with the dead, and even the linen cloths in 
which the bodies were wrapped were taken 
off and sold for rags. 

The interior of these rock-cut tombs was 
often ornamented in the most minute way — 
not only with hieroglyphics, but with colored 
drawings which still remain. They repre- 
sented often, scenes in the life of the departed 
hero. In one place he is putting to flight his 
enemies, while in another, as a victor he is 
receiving captives who bend before him in 
supplication. On one of the oldest of these 
tombs is inscribed a funeral procession by 
water, where the mummy of the dead man is 
lying in a boat, which is followed by other 
boats full of mourning friends and kinsmen, 
while other friends are throwing dust upon 
their heads in token of grief. 

When the hills were far distant from the 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 79 

river, as at Memphis, some different places of 
burial must be provided. Tombs were built 
beneath the surface of the ground, often of 
great extent, with large and massive cham- 
bers ornamented with hieroglyphics and draw- 
ings such as we have described. Besides 
these roomy chambers, pits were dug at inter- 
vals twenty or even seventy feet in depth, and 
around the sides were shelves of stone on 
which mummies were placed. The openings 
to these were closed with masonry which was 
removed when new bodies were to be intro- 
duced. 

Of course the lowest class could afford no 
such costly burial as those we have described ; 
their bodies washed only with some vegeta- 
ble preparation, after lying in a strong alkali 
for seventy days, were wrapped in cloths, and 
laid away in pits in the plain. 



80 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

In contrast with this humble burial stands 
out the magnificence of the royal sepulchres. 
The mighty pyramids are each the tomb of a 
single king. Their name pyramid comes 
from the union of two words pi-rama, the 
mountain, and though this may seem a some- 
what high-sounding name for them, they are 
the largest buildings in the world. There 
are in Egypt some seventy pyramids, the ma- 
jority of which are in the neighborhood of 
Memphis. Of these two are especially worthy 
of note. 

The older of them is supposed to have 
been built by Cheops, who reigned over 2000 
years before Christ. The second is the work 
of Chefren, and is of a later date, and owing 
to its standing on higher ground, appears to 
be of larger size than that of Cheops, though 
it is in reality not so high. The base of each 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 83 

covers eleven acres of ground, while their 
height is nearly five hundred feet. Herodo- 
tus, the Greek historian, tells us that they 
were twenty years in building, and that one 
hundred thousand men, relieved every three 
months, were always at work upon them dur- 
ing that time. At his day there was still leg- 
ible upon one of them an inscription to the 
effect that sixteen hundred talents of silver 
were spent upon the radishes, onions, and 
garlic for the workmen. 

As we think of their enormous size, the 
patience and skill that created them seems 
almost incredible. First, the huge blocks 
must be hewn out in the distant quarry, and 
floated down the river. Then, as the pyra- 
mids stood back at a distance from its banks, 
they must be conveyed to them, and raised 
to their proper place. It is supposed that 



84 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

they were so moved by an inclined plane, 
which was raised as the work proceeded, and 
up which the heavy blocks were carried, and 
laid in their proper place. This inclined 
plain, or causeway, was still standing when 
Herodotus visited Egypt, and he speaks of 
its great proportions with admiration, con- 
sidering it as in no respect inferior to the 
pyramids. 

A narrow and intricate passage through 
this enormous mass of masonry led to a 
chamber situated nearly in the centre of 
the whole, where the mummy of the king 
was deposited. This chamber was ventilated 
by two very small passages or chimneys, 
which led upward, opening in the sides of 
the pyramid near its summit, and was orna- 
mented in the most extravagant manner. 
After burial, the entrances were closed in the 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 85 

most careful way, so as to hide all evidence of 
their existence, and here the king hoped that 
his body would remain undisturbed till the 
spirit should come again to inhabit it. Vain 
hope ! Not one of these tombs exists that 
has not been broken into. The cupidity of 
the Arabs and the curiosity of travellers have 
undone that result for which the hundred 
thousand workmen labored for so many years, 
and the bones of the kings are scattered far 
and wide. 



MONUMENTS OF EGYPT. 



CHAPTER IV. 




C 



LOSE be. 

side the 
pyramids of 
which we 
have been 
speaking, 
stands the 
S p h i n x. 
Carved out 
of the solid 
rock, its giant 
proportions 
rise high above the plain of shifting sand in 
which it is half-buried. It bears the head of 
a man upon the body of a lion, and perhaps 



90 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

alone among the monuments of Egypt, is suc- 
cessful in concealing the secret of its creation. 
The Arabs call it Aboolhol, the father of ter- 
ror or immensity. Its height from the belly 
to the head is fifty-six feet, while the circum- 
ference of the brows alone is over a hundred 
feet. Between its fore-paws is a chapel now 
buried in the sand. In this has been discov- 
ered a tablet, telling of repairs done to the 
statue by Suphis, the builder of the great 
pyramid. 

This monarch lived more than two thou- 
sand years before Christ, and if the statue was 
then so old as to need repair, how far back 
must have been the date of its creation. A 
late traveller, in describing the Sphinx, has 
well said, 4 ' In one regard, this stone idol 
bears awful semblance of Deity — unchange- 
fulness in the midst of change — the same 









1 y» » ■<■» 




ANCIENT EGYPT. 93 

seeming will and intent, for ever and ever in- 
exorable ! Upon ancient dynasties of Ethi- 
opian and Egyptian kings ; upon Greek and 
Roman, upon Arab and Ottoman conquerors ; 
upon Napoleon dreaming of an Eastern 
empire ; upon battle and pestilence, upon 
keen-eyed travellers ; — upon all, and more, this 
unworldly Sphinx has watched, and watched 
like a providence, with the same earnest eyes 
and the same sad, tranquil mien. And we, 
we shall die, and Islam wither away, and still 
that sleepless rock will lie watching and watch- 
ing the works of the new busy race, with those 
same sad, earnest eyes, and the same tranquil 
mien everlasting/' 

A short distance only from the pyramids, 
near the river bank, we come to the site of 
the ancient and mighty city of Memphis, now 



94 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

marked only by a few fragments of stone and 
mummy pits. 

Ascending the river from Memphis, we 
come, after a long journey, to the ruins of 
Thebes, the mightiest city of ancient Egypt. 
" Art thou mightier," cries Nahum the 
prophet, when denouncing Nineveh, " than 
populous No, that was situate among the 
rivers that had the waters round about it. 
Egypt and Ethiopia were her strength, and 
it was infinite. " 

When we think of it as it was, the great- 
est city of the earth for more than a thousand 
years, and picture it in its grandeur, with its 
hundreds of temples and monuments, and all 
the busy life of its inhabitants, and when now 
we see the plain on which it stood, scattered 
over with the remains of all this magnificence, 
we think again of the fiery words of Ezekiel the 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 97 

prophet. " Thus saith the Lord, I will set 
fire in Egypt, No shall be rent asunder." 

The plain on which the city was built was 
one especially suited, as well by its beauty 
as its convenience, for the site of a great 
city. The hills which elsewhere lie close to 
the river, here fall back on either side, leaving 
a large circular plain. 

The wealth of all Egypt was brought to 
its door on the broad bosom of the Nile, 
while it was, too, on the highway of the 
trade that was carried on with the ports on 
the Red sea. 

Always a large populous city, its magnifi- 
cence perhaps began under Amosis, who 
drove out of Egypt the Shepherd kings, a 
race of foreign tyrants who had held sway 
over the country and brought all Egypt under 
his rule. He was succeeded by a line of kings, 
5 



98 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

each of whom brought fame and wealth to 
their capital, and who showed their piety in 
building massive temples to the gods. 
Finally, Thebes reached its greatest glory, 
under Rameses II., the great hero and the type 
of all that was noblest to the Egyptian. Then 
came the period of her downfall. The cities 
of Lower Egypt gained power, and later on an 
Ethiopian king conquered and ruled over the 
city. Then came the invasion by the Per- 
sians, with their hatred of everything Egyp- 
tian, and the mighty temples were ruined and 
thrown down by conquerors, who lost no op- 
portunity to show the people that they were 
conquered, and who wished to destroy all 
evidence of the glorious deeds of their fore- 
fathers. Fortunately, they could not do this 
entirely, and so the ruins of Thebes to-day. 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 99 

though only ruins, are the wonder and admi- 
ration of every one that sees them. 

The site of the city is now marked by 
four villages, Luxor and Karnak on the east- 
ern bank of the Nile, and Gurneh and Medi- 
neh Aboo on the western. At each of these 
places are ruins of great temples, and it seems 
as if each had been the chief point of its own 
district. Formerly the Nile did not, as now, 
flow through the centre of the city, but far to 
the eastward, leaving the plain, on which it 
was built, undivided. It is only within a few 
hundred years that it has forced for itself 
the channel it now uses, where it bids fair in 
a short time to work more destruction than 
centuries of neglect. 

The Egyptian temples were built in a style 
of magnificence which any illustration can 
but poorly represent. They were often ap- 



IOO 



ANCIENT EGYPT. 



proached through a long avenue of sphinxes, 
called a dromos, of which but the broken 
fragments now remain. These led to a huge 
propylon, or gateway, behind which was an 
unroofed court, after traversing which the 
temple itself was reached. The massive pil- 




-\W V V \\ \\ V. \\ \) \\ II [' II It 1/ '<fW O(? 




Sphinx. 

lars bore carvings representing the sacred 
lotus flower, or the graceful papyrus, and on 
every side w T ere sculptures representing the 
hero who had built the temple, or the god in 
whose honor the temple was erected. In one 
place the god is shown delivering into the 



p 

cd 

Pi- 



CC 

pi 

CD 

o 

CO 

►D 

P* 
►"•• 

B 

CD 




ANCIENT EGYPT. 



IOJ 



hands of his favorite the opposing army, 

while in another, the king 

is in battle, his enemies 

everywhere flying before 

him. 

The accompanying cut, 
which is of a temple half 
buried by the sand, gives 
a good idea of the form 
which was generally chosen 
by the Egyptians in build- 
ing their temples. On the 
right hand is the propy- 
lon ; just left of it is the 
court, while still further to 
the left is the temple itself, 
or sanctuary. 

A very noticeable feat- 
ure of Egyptian architecture is the high statues 




104 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

which form part of their temples. Sometimes 
the column that upholds a massive wall is 
carved into the form of a man, bearing the 
whole upon his head ; — at other times, huge 
stone sentinels stand at the entrance keeping 
a never ending silent watch. Two such senti- 
nels stand in front of the propylon of a ruined 
temple at Luxor. Their heads are surmounted 
w T ith massive helmets, and though the figures 
are now buried in the sand up to their armpits, 
an idea of their great size may be gained, 
when it is said that the part still uncovered is 
over twenty feet in height. 

But by far the most striking of these giant 
figures are the two Colossi, called by the 
Arabs Tama and Chama. They were erected 
by Amunopth III., who reigned about 1300 
B. C, and were originally two out of eighteen 
such figures that formed the approach to a 



ANCIENT EGYPT. I07 

temple. Their sixteen brothers, however, have 
disappeared, and they now stand alone. They 
are indeed giant in height, reaching sixty feet 
above the plain. From the elbow to the ends 
of .the fingers, each arm is seventeen feet ten 
inches in length, while each sturdy foot meas- 
ures ten feet. 

One of these is the far-famed Memnon of 
the Greeks, and from it, it was fabled, a strain 
of music came when the first beams of the 
rising sun fell upon it. The cause of this 
music is unknown. Probably it was the work 
of the priests, who w r ould lose no opportunity 
to impose upon the credulity of the ignorant, 
or it may be that it was owing, as has been 
suggested of late, to the expansion of parti- 
cles of water in the stone under the warmth 
of the sun's rays. The Persians did not spare 
these any more than the other examples of 



108 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

Egyptian greatness, and it is only from the 
mutilated remains that we can judge how 
stately must have been the perfect originals. 

We have a very vivid picture on an old 
wall, of a colossus in process of transportation. 
The huge figure is firmly bound upon a sledge 
with ropes, and is drawn by four long lines of 
laborers, each line being made up of forty- 
three men. One man stands upon the knees 
of the statue, apparently giving out some 
song, or beating time, that all may pull to- 
gether. On the sledge stands another man 
pouring from a vase some substance, evidently 
grease, in order to assist locomotion ; while 
bands of laborers follow with tools and a body 
of soldiers march by the side. 

During the inundation, the water com- 
pletely surrounds the Colossi, which then rise 
like two great islands of stone above the flood. 



ANCIENT EGYPT. Ill 

Indeed, their bases are now already covered, 
seven feet in depth, with the mud which 
successive overflows of the river have deposi- 
ted. It is well known that the bed of the 
river is slowly rising, since within the positive 
knowledge of history, the floods extend to 
points far beyond their former reach, and there 
is reason to believe that when these statues 
were erected, the ground on which they stood 
was never reached by the yearly overflow', and 
that it is only during comparatively late cen- 
turies, that the waters have extended to their 
present limit. 

Crossing the river from Luxor, we find on 
the opposite side at a short distance from its 
bank, the ruins of what was one of the grand- 
est of all the Egyptian temples. Diodorus, 
the Greek historian, describes it, calling it 
the tomb of Osymandyas. " At its entrance," 



112 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

says he, " rose a propylon of marble. After 
having passed it, one entered a square court, 
whose roof was not sustained by columns but 
by animals carved in solid blocks of stone. 
The entire ceiling, consisting of a single stone, 
was studded with golden stars upon a field of 
azure. At the further end of this court was 
a second propylon, like the former but adorned 
with variegated carvings of perfect workman- 
ship. Beside this second portico were three 
statues, each chiselled from a single block of 
the hard and tinted stones of Syene. One, 
representing a personage in a sitting posture, 
was the largest of all the statues in Egypt. 
This piece was not only remarkable for its di- 
mensions, but it was worthy of admiration in 
regard to its artistic execution and the nature 
of the stone which, notwithstanding its vast- 
ness, did not reveal a single crack or blemish. 



o 

O 



ft 
3 

00 

GO 




ANCIENT EGYPT. 115 

Upon it could be read the following inscrip- 
tion, ' I am Osymandyas, king of the kings ; 
if any one should wish to know who I am, and 
where I repose, let him surpass one of my 
works/ The two other statues placed near 
his knees, one upon the right hand and the 
other upon the left, were those of the mother 
and daughter, and did not approach the first 
in size. 

" Upon a wall near at hand, the king was 
represented besieging a fortress surrounded 
by a river, exposing himself to the blows of his 
enemies, and accompanied by a terrible lion, 
which served him as an auxiliary in his com- 
bats. Among those who explain these carv- 
ings, some say that it was a real lion, tamed, 
fed by the king's own hands, and taught to 
accompany him while attacking and pursuing 
his enemies ; while others maintain that this 



Il6 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

king, who was distinguished above all the rest 
for his valor and strength, intended to sound 
his own praises by symbolizing his qualities in 
the figure of a lion." 

One large apartment was doubtless the 
library, for above its doorway was inscribed, 
" Books are the medicine of the mind." 

At the back and sides of the building are 
vaults of unburned bricks, which were proba- 
bly used as dwelling places tor the priests. A 
few of higher rank no doubt lived nearer the 
sanctuary, and to these was assigned the duty 
of offering sacrifices to attain the favor of the 
deities on behalf of the nation. 

Such was this temple. It was erected by 
Rameses II., to his father Oimenepthah, or 
Osymandyas, as Diodorus calls him. Not only 
was it perfect in workmanship, but its situa- 
tion was one of great beauty. Built just at 



ANCIENT EGYPT. H9 

the foot of a range of hills, its different parts 
were raised on successive terraces, thus mak- 
ing its outward appearance particularly 
massive. 

The giant statue is still there, but like 
everything about it, in ruins. It lies prone 
on its face, but even in its downfall is the 
wonder of all. Its huge mass weighs nearly 
nine hundred tons, and modern engineering 
skill would, we fear, be sorely tasked, if it 
were called upon to transport such a figure 
from the quarries at Syene, hundreds of miles 
distant, and set it upright in its place in the 
temple. 

Such were some of the great monuments 
of Egypt. The drifting sands of the desert 
have buried other temples and tombs out of 
our sight, and their memory is forgotten. It 
is as if nature, having in vain striven to destroy 



120 ANCIENT EGYPT. 

these works of man through the long years 
that have elapsed since their creation, had 
given up the unequal struggle, and was now 
resolved to burv them out of her sight. The 
shifting sand may yet do what time has not, 
and the remains of ancient Egypt may thus 
finally disappear. 



LBRARY OF CONGRESS 









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